Preservation of Traditional Art: The Case of the ... - Wacana Seni

20Wacana Seni Journal of Arts Discourse. Jil./Vol.7.2008Such transformations have enabled a wide variety of people to participate in nooraa. Schoolchildren are now able to learn about the local culture through their own physical experiences,disregarding the spiritual aspects of the performance. The amateur group, which is organisedby the general public, has started to create a new way of getting involved in the world of nooraathrough physical practices and the cultivation of a relationship with the cultural authorities.With the emergence of these new performers, professional artists are being compelled toreassess what they do. When nooraa changes into a performance accessible to anyone, theissue arises of how authenticity will be redefined. This will inspire every nooraa performer togenerate new interpretations of spiritual rites and new types of creations.Notes1. The Malaysian version is called menora, which is known as a form of folk dance theatre, found inthe northern Peninsular Malaysia states of Kedah, Penang and Kelantan (Matusky and Tan 2004:100). The two types of performances — nooraa and menorah — have similarities in the stories,costumes, musical instruments and dance postures. However, they are different in terms of thelanguages used by the clown characters who appear in both forms. A comparative study of these twoperformance types will be of great value, but in this paper, I will focus on the Southern Thai versionof nooraa.2. Although troupes once travelled from town to town throughout the south and often stayed inmonasteries, today most troupes have a home base and only travel short distances to perform(Guelden 2005: 186).3. It is very hard to distinguish professionals and amateurs. Simply put, we understand that professionalperformers are people who can make money through their expertise and the latter are those whocannot. However, this definition is not always effective as you can easily imagine. In this case,I would like to briefly define the two words: a professional is the person who belongs to the